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Life After Death/Issue 23
Eric, Andre, Bart, and Matt ran through the woods for a good fifteen minutes. They stopped, layed the deer on the ground, and took a breather. Andre looked back to see if the rotters were following them. "I don't see 'em anymore," he said. "Good," Matt replied. "Matt...your arm," Eric said, looking down at his arm. Matt lifted it up and rolled up his jacket sleeve. His arm was completely covered with a layer of duct tape, and there were teeth marks where the rotter had bitten him, but no holes. "It didn't go through...it didn't go through," Matt said, relieved. "Shit, man! This stuff really does work!" "Thank fucking god!" Bart said as he and Matt hugged. "Wait...what?" Eric asked, confused. "I guess we should have told you about this..." Bart said as he scratched his head. "My bad. A few weeks back, we started thinking of some ways to keep them from biting us, and Penny had a brilliant idea - coating our clothes with duct tape. It's tough to break through, and gives us an added layer of protection from the biters. This is the first time any of us has been bitten, so we weren't really sure if it worked." "And you didn't tell us about it?" "It didn't cross my mind, I apologize. Besides, we weren't sure if it worked, so you might have just thought we were crazy. We have some more rolls in the RV that we managed to find, if you guys want to try it out." "Maybe, for now...we need to get the fuck out of here...before the rotters catch up." "Right." The four men lifted the deer back up, and began jogging back through the forest toward their camp. ---- Back at the camp, the group sat around the fire while Ike and Rachel had a conversation in the RV. "That Dolph guy is a prick," Rachel said. "Eh, they've all been through a lot," Ike said. "They got attacked about a month ago and lost a lot of people, apparently." "That doesn't give him the right to treat that other man like that." "We don't know them, we don't know what they've been through. For all we know, that other guy might be even more of a dick than he is. I'm not going to judge them like that." "I guess you're right, but they aren't making a very good first impression." "Give them a while. If I were in their position, I wouldn't be too trusting of a bunch of people jumping out of the woods and inviting you into their group, either. I'd be on edge." Meanwhile, at the fire, Ryan and Penny attempted to strike a conversation with the rest of Eric's group. "I hope you, uh...like what we got here," Ryan said. "It's not much, but we've made it work so far." "It's fan-fucking-tastic," Dolph replied sarcastically while staring at the fire. "No need to be like that, man." "Would you rather I tell you what I actually think?" Ryan shook his head and ignored Dolph's question. "What about the rest of you?" "Hey! I'm talking to you!" Dolph stood up and took a step toward Ryan. "Dolph, sit the hell down," Gregory said. "I apologize for that. And I'm not quite sure what to think, I've only been here for a few hours. You people seem nice enough." "So...what has you guys set up in this place?" Morgan asked. "You had to have been somewhere...more practical before, right?" "What do you mean?" "Well, this place isn't exactly...safe." "Thank you!" Dolph said as he held his hands out. Gregory shot him a look and he rolled his eyes. "Well, we've been here for a couple months," Ryan informed them. "We just kinda...all found each other before then. My girlfriend and I ran into Bart and Matt on the higway, then we ran into Penny hiding in a car in some deserted town. Rachel, her brother, Ike, and Owen met up with us a little bit after that, then...we found this place and I guess we just started living here. What about you guys?" "We were all over the place, really," Emily said. "Started out like you guys, all running into each other. We were heading toward Harter and we ran into Devon and Morgan on the way." "I heard about Harter," Penny said. "My parents wanted to head there. What happened to that place?" "It was overrun. Everyone there...they're all dead." "That's shitty." "Hey, guys...they're back." Devon said as he pointed to the four men approaching the fence. They opened up the hole and pulled the deer through. They walked down and placed it down by the RV as Ike and Rachel came out of it. Owen ran out of the tent and approached the deer carcass. "Is it dead?" he asked as the rest of the group approached them. "Yeah...damn thing nearly cost me my life," Matt said as he held out his arm. "So the duct tape does work?" Penny asked, surprised. "Hell yeah!" "Glad to see you guys made it out alright," Ike said. "What happened? How'd one get so close?" "There's a horde," Eric said. "A couple hundred of them...I don't know how close, but they were heading this way. It might take a while for them to arrive, but we should be prepared to leave when they get here." "We should leave right now," Dolph said. "Just to be sure." "That won't be necessary," Rachel said. "If we see so much as a glimpse of the biters, we'll be out of here faster than The Road Runner." "As for right now..." Bart said. "Let's cook this sucker." ---- Bart, Matt, and Rachel spent the next couple hours cutting up the deer and preparing it for cooking. They skinned it, trimmed off all the fat, marinated and seasoned it with ingrediants from the RV, and placed it on a grill over the firepit. The sun had started to set, and everyone was sitting around the fire, except for Matt. "So, what do you think of those two?" Gregory asked Eric. "They seem pretty nice," Eric said. "I trust them a hell of a lot more than I did a few hours ago, and I'm sure they feel the same after I saved their asses from the rotters." "What about you, Andre?" "I like them. They seem like good people, just trying to survive like us. I trust 'em. How about you guys? Did you talk to any of them here?" "A little bit, tried to convince their leader that this place isn't safe right now, but with the horde on it's way...that might have done a good enough job on its own." "Yeah, I don't really want to stay here too long. If they don't want to leave in the next couple of days, I think we might just have to move on." "Thank god," Dolph said. "That smells like shit," Brie said as she pulled her scarf over her nose. "Never smelled cooking venison before?" Rachel asked with a smile. "Don't worry, it tastes better than it smells. Although...It does taste a bit more on the...'gamier' side. But, beggers can't be choosers, I'm afraid." Matt walked out of the RV carrying two cases of beer. "I believe I said something about beer earlier?" Matt said as he placed them down by the firepit. "Been waiting for a special occasion to crack 'em open. Any takers?" "Damn right," Eric said with a smile as Matt ripped open the case, grabbed a can, and tossed it to Eric. "Come on, you look like someone who enjoys their beer," Matt said with a smirk. Dolph stared at the can for a moment, and then hesitantly took it. Matt grabbed another and held it out to Gregory. "No thanks, never was much of a drinker," Gregory said. "You sure?" "Quite. Thank you, though." Matt then tried to hand the drink to Devon. "You want one?" "Uh...I don't know, I'm a lightweight when it comes to alcohol," he said. "One wont do much harm." "Alright, I'll have one. Thanks." The rest of the group, save for Owen, all took a beer. Matt sat down beside Bart and cracked open his. "This is nice," Ike said. "Reminds me a lot of family reunions. You know, sitting around a fire with a beer in one hand and a nice steak dinner in the other, surrounded by a bunch of people." "You mean you had a bunch of monsters trying to eat you at family reuinions?" Rachel jokingly asked. "Heh, you'd be surprised what crazy shit went on at them. My family was an odd one, that's for sure." Ike chuckled and looked down at Owen. "Remember when Uncle Dan tried to climb the tree in our backyard?" Owen asked. "Haha, yeah. He ended up snapping a branch and fell on his head; that was pretty funny. My brother was always doing crazy crap like that." Everyone chuckled, but it eventually returned to silence. Only the sizzle of the meat cooking on the grill filled the air. "I remember this one time when we had family over," Emily started to say, breaking the silence. "We were sitting by a fire, and my dad...he hears this noise under our deck. So, being the 'tough guy' he is, he goes under to check and ends up pulling out this...damn raccoon. He tries to hold it and it ends up scratching his face and running right back under the deck. Then my dad...he's running around the yard, screaming 'Ah, my face!' and everyone else just burst out laughing" Everyone started to laugh at the story, but Andre noticed something out of the corner of his eye. "Shit...we got company," he said as he pointed out a lone figure starting to approach the fence. Credits * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Deaths *None